


The Beauty of Hyrule

by jkuin



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Paya is very religious, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23120599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jkuin/pseuds/jkuin
Summary: Link visits Impa from time to time to update her on his progress. After he defeats Ganon, Paya is left with a choice; stay in Kakariko, or adventure with him to see all of Hyrule's wonderful beauty.
Relationships: Link/Paya (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	The Beauty of Hyrule

After Link had told her grandmother that he had conquered all four divine beasts, he had left for a long time. None of the villagers saw him in the little town for more than an hour; every once in a while there was a rumor of him being seen behind Kakariko Village talking to the strange vendor, Kilton or; he would dash in to get some supplies and head out without a word.

Paya missed Link's longer visits to her and her grandmother. He was always so kind and always did his best to wave ‘hi' to her, even though she was always a blubbering mess. But, he always smiled at her, even after she made a fool of herself. It was such a sweet smile - unlike the ones she received from others when she stuttered and hid her face. He was so genuine; the Champion didn't expect her to speak well, and Paya believed it was because Link was practically mute himself.

That genuine smile made her wish that she could do so much more for him in her travels. Often, Paya had daydreamed that they would travel together, and Paya could cook meals for the blond boy, or help him carry his weapons, and watch each sunset together. But, those fantasies were quickly squashed by the reality of the situation. It was too dangerous; she would just slow him down, and it wasn’t like Link couldn’t care for himself. So instead, Paya prayed. She prayed her little heart out to Hylia for Link to be safe, well-fed, well-equipped, and as happy as the knight could be in his dire circumstances. Hylia never directly responded to her prayers, but she always felt a little warmer everytime she rose from her knees. Paya knew that it was working. It had to be.

She had just finished polishing one of the goddess statues outside and was about to sit on her knees to pray to Hylia for a short while when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Paya cried out, startled and turned around to see none other but the Champion himself.

“M-Master Link, you mustn't sneak up on me like that!” she chastised as she stood. Paya dusted her pants off, not daring to look into Link's eyes. Not daring to get lost in that sea of blue again. Link simply squeezed her arm in a way to say ‘hi’ and climbed up the steps to her grandmother. Where he had touched her arm burned hot and her cheeks turned as red as the symbol on her face. Why did he have to make her feel this way?!

Paya shook her head to clear it before he sat beside the statue, closed her eyes and prayed.

After she finished, Paya exhaled, and as she did so, her spine crept downward. She felt all her tension released after she had prayed to the Goddess. The girl allowed herself to relish in the spiritual moment before she moved onto the next statue to repeat what she did for the first; polish it, then sit down to say the same, small little prayer she had written earlier that morning. Each time, she felt more connected to Hylia, and in turn, more connected to herself. Finally, she finished and went inside to spend some time with her Grandmother.

Instead of actually making it inside, she found that she had ran right into Link. “Oof! Oh, M-Master Link! I’m so sorry! So sorry...” she apologized and rushed past him to go inside, but before she could, she felt Link’s hand on her arm, stopping her. Paya looked up at Link, a confused expression on her face. He met her furrowed brow with a sheepish smile and pointed behind the house to the waterfall. Paya’s eyes followed where he was pointing, still confused. Then, she noticed he was wearing the Zora armor. He only wore that if he was going to dive into the small river behind her grandmother's house. Her stomach churned with butterflies, and she couldn't tell if they were bad or good. “Oh, oh no, Master L-Link, I c-can’t-”

Link shook his head, effectively cutting her off without a word gracing his lips. He slid his hand down her arm to grab her wrist, and without warning, bolted to the small pool of water behind her grandmother’s house, dragging Paya with him. Paya squealed all the way to the pond, until Link jumped in, taking her with him. She had the good sense to hold her breath before they dove into the water together. In the Zora armor, Link was surprisingly fast, almost so fast that it hurt. All of a sudden, she felt like they were going up, water rushing over them. Link was swimming up the waterfall!

Just as quickly as they had entered the water, they emerged from it, high in the sky. Paya let out a shriek just as Link extended the paraglider. She felt his hand move away from her back and she took that as a sign to hang on for dear life as they paraglided down onto the patch of land right next to the waterfall.

Paya hadn’t been up behind her grandmother’s house since she was a child. She was focused on her spiritual endeavours and made sure that her grandmother was well cared for. She didn’t have the energy to explore the village like she used to. Paya was tired.

However, with the view of Hyrule up there, she wished that she had made time to go sightseeing every once in a while. The sun was starting to set below the horizon, so everything was a soft orange below. She caught herself holding her mouth open in awe. Paya quickly closed it, a blush deep across her face. She glanced over at Link to see if he had caught her, but it didn’t look as if he had. Instead, he looked just as awestruck by the sight, even though Paya was sure that he had seen it many times before. She decided to turn her attention back to the horizon, where the sun dipped below the horizon. The sight was absolutely gorgeous; there were many clouds in the sky, billowing and puffy. Earlier that afternoon, they were simply white clouds, but with the sun near the end of it’s run, the clouds were brilliant pinks and oranges, with the sky a beautiful lavender color. The light from the sun graced the hills in gold, gilding the land with fine brilliance.

The young girl shivered at the beauty of her Goddess’ creation. Hyrule was incredible. It was always captivating in a different, interesting way, every time of day. Paya yearned to explore the Great Hylia's great escape; her heart pulled her toward each of the wonderful races; to the Goron's up North with their intense hearts and intense heats; to the Gerudo in the South, some of the most awe-inspiring women she had ever laid her eyes on - a few had once wandered into the village; the Zora in the East, gorgeous and angelic in grace and dignity as their race were so ancient; and finally, the Rito, in the far North, cold and isolated, thus so new and cruel.

Out of the corner of her eye, Paya caught a glimpse of a brightly colored balloon with a basket attached near the base, carrying a strange looking man, who seemed to be the mixture of man and beast, but in a non-threatening, sexless way. She turned her full attention to the balloon as it floated slowly down and landed gently on the grass. Link moved suddenly, which startled her and she looked up at him with a furrowed brow, to which he responded with a flashy grin as he pulled out an absolutely absurd amount of monster parts from his pack. Link carried them over to the strange merchant’s makeshift counter, collected a bunch of odd currency from the seller, and then turned around and purchased a set of armor that was pure black. Paya found her mouth twitching in worry about what that could possibly be. She hadn’t felt this cold since she had begun her graces to Hylia.

Link thanked the man with a nod and returned to Paya, sitting down on the grass next to her. He had already shed Zora's armor, which had dried with surprising quickness. Although it made Paya's little heart pound in her chest to see Link's Champion's Tunic, she couldn’t help but wish she had been looking at him while he had changed instead of being distracted by the landscape. To her, the Hylian Champion was another one of Hylia’s great wonders.

He caught her staring and responded with a beaming smile, completely oblivious to her bright red face, flushed with the embarrassment of her silly little crush. His flashing smile was just too much, so she hid her face in her hands bashfully. Paya waited for a few seconds before she peeped through the cracks of her fingers at her companion. Link had returned his gaze to Hyrule’s vast landscape although with a second glance, she realized that his eyes weren’t open. His chest rose and fell evely and he was still except for his ears flicking in the soft, night breeze. He looked serene and at peace for once - it reminded Paya of her own expression she made while praying to Hylia; maybe he was doing the same thing.

She kept her thoughts to herself and allowed Link to continue his meditation in silence. The young girl decided to do the same thing - she closed her eyes and began to pray to the only Goddess she’s ever known.

She let herself gradually fall out of her meditation and blinked her big, brown eyes open. Paya took a deep breath and exhaled, her breath hot as it escaped her lips to the crisp night air. The climate around Kakariko village was always warm, the nights only cooling to a few degrees below to daytime temperature. It was always comfortable which Paya enjoyed, but she wished she could experience extreme hots and colds that she knew Hyrule was capable of, that Hylia had created. Paya huffed a little sigh and rubbed her eyes with her small, smooth hands. She couldn’t leave her grandmother, and she was too weak - Calamity Gananon and his monsters would threaten her life if she left the sanctuary of her home. Adventure was simply not in the cards for her.

Paya moved her attention back to Link, who was fiddling with a sword, with the purple hilt spread open like wings. At the base of the metal of the sword, was an engraved triforce. Paya’s eyes widened with the realization - that was the Master Sword! That’s why Link had been gone so long - he was in the mystical Korok forest working towards the Master Sword!

Paya’s heart dropped to her stomach. That means he had all the pieces he needed - all four divine beasts and the Sword That Seals the Darkness, crafted by the Great Hylia herself. It was time for him to face the Calamity Ganon. If he was unsuccessful, he would surely die and Hyrule would be cast in darkness forever. It was certainly a lot of pressure to put on a kid, especially since he didn’t have any memories of the people he should be fighting for. She wondered briefly if she was someone he was fighting for. Paya certainly hoped so; if she couldn’t help Link directly or through prayer, she hoped she inspired him to fight for the maidens back in the Hylian villages.

In a movement so bold she surprised herself, Paya reached out and placed her hand over Link’s rough and calloused hand, which made his fidgets with the sword stop. Link raised his head to look at her, sadness running deep in his bright, blue eyes. His brow twitched and knitted together in worry. Paya swallowed thickly as she willed for her body to stop shaking with their hands touching as they were.

“Link,” she began, and her voice shook against her will. Paya paused to gather her thoughts and to keep her throat from getting tense from her insistent nervousness. “I believe in you. This is something you have to do, but afterwards, you’ll have all the freedom you want. You’ve already been all over Hyrule, but you can go wherever you want. You can be whoever you want.”

The Champion opened his mouth, as if to say something but no sound came out. His mouth moved up and down, like it was trying to form the words Link so desperately wanted to say. He looked incredibly frustrated and quickly pulled out a journal from his pack. He flipped quickly to a new page as he tightly gripped the pencil he carried.

_“I’m scared that I won’t have any direction after Ganon. I don’t know who I am. I don’t know what I want.”_

Paya watched as he wrote, smiling down at the scribbled characters in his chicken scratch. After he was finished, she nodded to him and took the pen and paper from him, glad that she didn’t have to use her own, shaky voice either.

_“That’s okay, you’re only seventeen. You don’t know who you are and no one expects you to.”_

_“Zelda expects me to.”_

_“Princess Zelda probably feels the same way you do - she’s been forced into a destiny at such a young age and once that destiny’s done… she’ll be just as lost.”_

Link read what Paya wrote seemingly over and over again, his hand twitching as if he was going to write something back, but wasn’t quite sure what to say. Finally, he leaned over and kissed the top of Paya’s white-haired head which made her face flush the same color as the Sheikah tattoo on her face.

He turned back to the journal and wrote, _“Have you figured out who you are yet, Paya?”_

The Sheikah girl grinned at the question on the page and accepted the pen and journal, scribbling her response frantically. The question blossomed into a written conversation, the two using the notebook as a crutch to communicate, satisfied and comfortable with each other, their voices relaxed and brains functioning together in a more preferred way. Paya’s heart felt fuller than it had in a long time and she was more relaxed than she had been in a long time.

It was only when the big, round moon had risen to its peak in the starry night sky that Link changed back into the Zora Armor and took Paya back to her Grandmother’s house. He took her to the bottom of the large staircase and hugged her. Paya hugged him back with shaky arms and a grin.

“Good luck, Link,” she whispered, her voice surprisingly even without a stutter at all. She broke away from the hug and climbed up the steps to her grandmother’s house. She got to the doors and turned around to see if Link was still there, but he had disappeared, just as silent as the night. She breathed out the air that she had been holding in. This night was just as she had dreamed of - Paya knew that there wouldn’t be another night like it, especially not after Link defeated Calamity Ganon and Zelda would return.

Paya opened the door as quickly as possible to not wake her grandmother, who always slept on her cushion on the bottom floor of the house. She didn’t even need to sneak, however, as Impa was still wide awake. The young Sheikah girl groaned internally; she certainly did not want to explain what had kept her so late.

“Did Link show you that strange merchant?” Impa questioned, and she sounded like she knew exactly where Paya had been, which - somehow - made annoyance bubble in her stomach

“Yes - and also I got to see the sunset.”

“Ah, Hylia really does give us the best views, doesn’t She?”

“Yes, she does, Grandmother,” Paya responded before she ascended the stairs to the top floor of the house, where her bedroom was.

Before she was able to reach the top, Impa called out, “Paya, you don’t have any expectations with the Champion, do you?” She sounded like she was more worried for Paya’s wellbeing than being malicious, so Paya sighed softly. The only expectation she had for falling in love with Link was heartbreak; she knew that the knight was far too busy saving the world and the princess to have any real time with her anyway. She had known him for at least a year now and the only time she had ever spent with him was that night.

“No, Grandmother, I don’t. Link is better suited for Zelda, anyway.”


End file.
